AOA 142

The police were very polite, maybe because the lawyer belonged to a famous law firm. They said there were often requests these days to get someone addicted to drugs out of dislike. They said Lee Gyuseong knew what he was doing, but he’d deny it to the end. They said that was how he’d get a lighter sentence.

The drug in the syringe was heroin. It was a powerful drug, but the lawyer Baek Mugyeong called told me I wouldn’t get a prison sentence since I wasn’t the direct victim.

I could guess who had hired Lee Gyuseong. It was definitely Jeong Guhyeon. Aunt Soyeon agreed too.

After talking with Aunt Soyeon, we decided not to tell the police Jeong Guhyeon’s name. There wasn’t clear evidence, so instead of stirring things up, we decided to leave it to the lawyer.

Aunt Soyeon was furious. She ground her teeth and said she wouldn’t let Jeong Guhyeon go. She cursed, calling him a brat and saying he was the worst kind of scum.

By the time we finished the questioning and left the police station, the sun had long set. Even though it was dinnertime, Aunt Soyeon didn’t invite Baek Mugyeong, who had come all the way to the station, to eat with us. She just told him to finish the talk quickly and gave us space.

So I stood face to face with Baek Mugyeong in one corner of the parking lot under the dark sky. The bodyguards were standing at a proper distance, watching the surroundings.

Against the backdrop of the Seoul city night, Baek Mugyeong looked more handsome than ever, and I clicked my tongue inwardly. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Confessing now didn’t fit the situation at all.

“Do you know who ordered this incident?”

As soon as he stood still, Baek Mugyeong asked the key question. I hesitated for a moment, wondering what to do, then decided to tell the truth. There was no reason to hide anything from Baek Mugyeong, who already knew almost everything.

When I told him I had blackmailed my biological father before leaving for America by bringing up his corruption, Baek Mugyeong told me I’d done well. But when I said my biological father had sold off the cultural artifacts displayed in the museum, his eyes widened, and he looked doubtful.

He asked if I wouldn’t have refused to marry him if I’d known about that kind of corruption, or divorced earlier at least.

“I needed money. My brother had to get surgery. And my biological father would keep bothering me, so to avoid him, I had to leave Korea. Of course, I made a lot of money. Because I knew things. That’s the second good thing. What about you?”

“I made enough too. So you think it’s Jeong Guhyeon?”

Baek Mugyeong’s lips curved slightly as he smiled, but he went straight back to the topic. I got too excited because Baek Mugyeong was the only person I could brag to about using my memories of the future to make money. I hid my embarrassment and kept explaining.

After blackmailing my biological father, I had sarcastically congratulated Jeong Guhyeon for ruining his life with drugs. Then Jeong Guhyeon had screamed that he’d kill me.

At that time, I thought he was just saying it out of anger. Usually, defeated villains bark loudly like that.

But now that I thought about it, Jeong Guhyeon was a man who acted fast. In the previous life, he had really killed me himself. It had also been his plan to send someone to lure me to my biological father’s sixtieth birthday party.

This time too, it had only been a day since I came back to Korea, and this already happened.

When I thought about it, he was even more dangerous than my father. I kept thinking I had to stay far away from him, but at the same time, I tried hard to come up with something that would drag Jeong Gwiyeon down.

“Jeong Minchae-ssi. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“What made you live your second life?”

“I don’t understand what you mean……”

“I died in a car accident. Then I opened my eyes, and it was the morning of the day I had a blind date. What about you?”

The question was so direct that I froze for a moment. The moment I died still came back to me as a nightmare. Not as often as before, but the awful feeling from that time still hadn’t gone away.

Even though I was safe now, my neck felt tight, so I rubbed it with my hand.

“Uh… well, I’m the same.”

“Who killed you?”

“Why would you think that……?”

“Was it Jeong Guhyeon?”

“……Yes.”

I couldn’t deny it when Baek Mugyeong glared at me with certainty. When I nodded, his face turned rigid. His neck and arms looked strained, and his eyes shone with danger, as if he’d run off and beat Jeong Guhyeon right away.

I got nervous because I didn’t expect him to get this angry. So I couldn’t bring myself to say it was fine and just stayed quiet.

After a long silence, he exhaled deeply enough for his shoulders to move and ran his hand through his hair.

The fierce air around him faded, and the cold light in his eyes softened.

“I want you to be happy.”

“Ah, yeah. Me too.”

“It’s shameless of me, but I hope I can be part of that happiness.”

“……?!”

It took me a beat to understand what he meant.

No way, was this a confession?

I couldn’t read anything from Baek Mugyeong’s face, so I got confused. I thought maybe it didn’t mean a confession but rather that he’d help me. It sounded like he meant he’d lend a hand in taking revenge on Jeong Guhyeon.

I blinked, hesitating about what to say, and then Baek Mugyeong spoke again.

“I have no interest in the Daesong Group or DS Motors.”

“I know.”

“I said before, when the time comes, I’ll go back to America.”

“Yes.”

I wanted to ask how he was going to take revenge, but he looked too serious, so I only nodded.

“When that time comes, what do you think about starting over?”

“Starting… over?”

“From the very beginning.”

The police station stood in the middle of the city. Beside the building, there were eight-lane and four-lane roads and even an overpass. The noise of countless passing cars was loud, but I could still hear the faint tremor in Baek Mugyeong’s voice.

His face looked rigid, probably from how tense he was.

Our first meeting had been the worst. We’d gotten married against our own will, and it had ended in disaster. Our second marriage had been full of trouble and chaos, but we had managed to calm things down right before divorcing.

And now he said we should start from the beginning. It took me a while to understand what that meant.

It was a confession.

I felt the urge to run away without looking back. It didn’t feel real.

But there was something I had to say.

“Do you still like me?”

I was supposed to say I liked him too, but I was so shocked that something stupid came out instead. My voice shook.

“Yes, I do. I like you enough to say something this shameless.”

I was supposed to smile, but my lips wouldn’t move. I felt strange. I’d waited for those words. I was happy, but I wanted to cry.

I had shown tears in front of Baek Mugyeong many times before. But this time, I had to hold them back.

“Jeong Minchae-ssi?”

“I like you too. I want to try again with you.”

I looked straight at Baek Mugyeong and spoke each word carefully with my trembling voice.

“Are you sincere?”

“Of course.”

“Then can I hold you?”

“You don’t need permission. You can.”

When I nodded, saying it was fine, Baek Mugyeong stepped forward and carefully wrapped his arms around me. It felt like he was handling fragile glass, and that made me laugh. I tightened my arms around his back and took a deep breath. Now I could finally breathe in Baek Mugyeong’s pheromone freely.

The scent on his jacket made me happy.

I heard loud heartbeats. I couldn’t tell whether it was mine or his.

I felt so happy I almost cried. I was so light it felt like my feet weren’t touching the ground. I even wondered if I was dreaming.

I forced myself to stay grounded. Even if we started over, not everything would go well. We’d still argue, and there’d be things we didn’t agree on. We could fight, break apart, and end up hating each other again.

But it was fine. I’d do my best without worrying about anyone else. I’d love him freely.

“I’ll do my best.”

Once again, Baek Mugyeong said what I wanted to say first. I tightened my arms around him.

“I’ll make you happy.”

I didn’t know what I had to do to make him happy, but I still said the usual line. I even felt the urge to pluck a star from the night sky and give it to him.

Maybe he liked that kind of thing, because I felt his shoulders shake as he laughed.

“We need to get divorced.”

“Of course.”

As expected from him, he brought up the practical issue right away. He was right. We absolutely had to get divorced. My biological father couldn’t be allowed to have false hope, and it would help ease Baek Jaehan’s suspicion too.

“It’ll take some time.”

“Waiting a bit is fine. Not doing it would be the problem.”

“When are you going back to America?”

“The day after tomorrow. Why?”

“I feel uneasy.”

“You think I won’t see you after I go to America?”

It was just a joke, but Baek Mugyeong flinched and tightened his hold around me.

“It’s something like that.”

Even though his tone was calm, he held me so tightly that I almost got crushed.

It felt a little funny to be like this in the dark corner of the police station parking lot, but I liked it, so I stayed still.

“It’s far, so we won’t see each other for a while.”

“I’ll come to America next weekend.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I’ll go.”

He was so firm that I just told him to do as he wanted. Even while we talked, he never let go of me.

It felt like I had the whole world.